How to safely dispose of butane / propane

[Cudzoziemiec]

Has anybody used one of these Crunchit things? Good idea or gimmick?

Safe, easy to use and compliant with recycling standards, the Jetboil CrunchIt™ Butane Canister Recycling Tool will puncture your empty Jetboil Jetpower butane fuel canisters, rendering them recycling bin ready for re-melt and reformation.

https://www.millets.co.uk/equipment/111695-jetboil-crunchit-butane-canister-recycling-tool.html/543426/?

[mark]

Gimmick, IMO. One can just as easily vent the old fuel by attaching a stove (or blowtorch, or the appliance of your   choice), lighting it and burning off the remaining fuel. Once the flame goes out, let it sit for a few hours with the appliance attached (to keep the canister's valve open), then use whatever sharp object is handy to puncture the now empty canister.

[Kim]

Seems to me that the main difference between a depleted butane cartridge and a depleted aerosol spray can that uses butane as a propellant is mostly whether the remaining butane smells of Mr Muscle, Febreze or hairspray.  Since they've been accepting the latter in the recycling all along, I assume their process is designed to cope with small amounts of flammable gasses.

I wouldn't put a full one in, thobut.

[mark]

I suspect that the main difference between a depleted butane cartridge and a depleted aerosol spray can is in the perception of the recycling center staff. Butane cartridges are labelled as hazardous and are seen as dangerous by lots of people. Aerosol cans, OTOH, are fairly mundane objects that everyone uses and has around the house.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Aerosol cans are also fairly flimsy and easily squashed or pierced, in comparison to butane/propane cartridges.

[Kim]

Aerosol cans are also fairly flimsy and easily squashed or pierced, in comparison to butane/propane cartridges.

Well yes, propane has a much higher vapour pressure.

But those cheap pure butane cartridges you get for muggle camping stoves and random appliances are pretty much the same, including the valve technology.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Gimmick, IMO. One can just as easily vent the old fuel by attaching a stove (or blowtorch, or the appliance of your   choice), lighting it and burning off the remaining fuel. Once the flame goes out, let it sit for a few hours with the appliance attached (to keep the canister's valve open), then use whatever sharp object is handy to puncture the now empty canister.

But how do you vent the fuel when you're camping and there's no longer enough to make tea or cook but you don't want to leave an unwatched cannister with a pitiful little flame going, because dogs/kids/feet etc? Particularly as you're only going to reach the end of the cannister when you're using the stove precisely because you want a cup of tea, meal or whatever.

You might be able to use a SAK's marlinspike thing to puncture a cannister, but not to squash it – which the Crunchit claims to do – which makes it easier to dispose of (it'll fit in smaller bins and won't cause ructions with the recycling collectors).

[Cudzoziemiec]

Aerosol cans are also fairly flimsy and easily squashed or pierced, in comparison to butane/propane cartridges.

Well yes, propane has a much higher vapour pressure.

But those cheap pure butane cartridges you get for muggle camping stoves and random appliances are pretty much the same, including the valve technology.

Yeah, I tend to ignore the existence of those.

[mark]

Where does the Crunchit claim to be able to squash the canister? I've seen those things and there's no way they can squash anything. Once the canister is too low on fuel to brew up a cup of tea, it won't take more than a minute or two to stop supporting any kind of flame. At that point, shut off the stove, swap canisters, resume cooking and deal with the empty canister later.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Hmm. having checked the official site, it doesn't. https://jetboil.johnsonoutdoors.com/accessories/crunchit I was sure I'd seen it being used to squash an emptied cannister, pushing the top in and collapsing it. Either that was something else or possibly someone showing off their Herculean strength or something like that. As the device doesn't do that and my personal Herculean strength is being held by customs at Herculaneum, that makes it more of a special can opener.

[drossall]

Gimmick, IMO. One can just as easily vent the old fuel by attaching a stove (or blowtorch, or the appliance of your   choice), lighting it and burning off the remaining fuel. Once the flame goes out, let it sit for a few hours with the appliance attached (to keep the canister's valve open), then use whatever sharp object is handy to puncture the now empty canister.

I do this. I tend to punch out the valve first. Then you can leave it upside down for ages.

I suspect that the main difference between a depleted butane cartridge and a depleted aerosol spray can is in the perception of the recycling center staff. Butane cartridges are labelled as hazardous and are seen as dangerous by lots of people.

If after punching it you collapse it and break the sides open, it's obviously safe and can be recycled as metal, surely?

I'm never sure whether it's significant that the Crunchit promotions don't mention propane.

[mark]

If after punching it you collapse it and break the sides open, it's obviously safe and can be recycled as metal, surely?

I'm never sure whether it's significant that the Crunchit promotions don't mention propane.

If the container were squashed then I would expect the recycling staff to recognize it as safe. If the cartridge were still more or less intact apart from a nail hole (or Crunchit hole), an employee in a hurry would quite likely reject the container.

Disposable propane bottles have a different valve than butane or butane/propane cartridges (at least they do in the US, where JetBoil is based). So the part of the Crunchit tool that opens the valve and lets the last bit of gas out wouldn't fit. Disposable propane bottles are also made of thicker metal than butane or butane-propane cartridges, because the propane inside them is under higher pressure than butane or butane/propane mix in a similar sized can. So even if the Crunchit tool were strong enough to puncture a propane bottle, most people would have a lot of trouble doing so.

[drossall]

If the container were squashed then I would expect the recycling staff to recognize it as safe.

Oh the ones I've done, the main challenge would be recognising them as cartridges. We're talking split open and sometimes in two here

Thanks for the info on propane.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Gimmick, IMO. One can just as easily vent the old fuel by attaching a stove (or blowtorch, or the appliance of your   choice), lighting it and burning off the remaining fuel. Once the flame goes out, let it sit for a few hours with the appliance attached (to keep the canister's valve open), then use whatever sharp object is handy to puncture the now empty canister.

I didn't light mine when I vented it. I felt was more dangerous left lit than unlit due to a dry spell we'd had. Out in the open the gas would rapidly blow away.

[Brucey]

I'm never sure whether it's significant that the Crunchit promotions don't mention propane.

see the graph I posted upthread for the pressures that are seen in Propane and Propane/butane mixes.   Canisters are engineered pro-rata for pressure, so might be up to about four times thicker-walled in the case of pure propane vs pure butane.

If you are looking to crush a canister you have to bend the canister walls, and IIRC the bending stiffness/strength ~goes as the cube of the wall thickness. Potentially then, pure propane canisters might be x64 more difficult to crush than a canister for pure butane.

cheers

[Davef]

Please to not be venting anything to the atmosphere that is not oxygen, nitrogen, or small quantities of co2.

Take these items to your house hold waste disposal site. They should have the correct facilities for such things ( usually a cage or container.

They are a Hazardous item, dispose of them properly.

J

I just vented some methane.


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[quixoticgeek]

I just vented some methane.

Curry last night?

J